The first three meets of the season include the defending national champions and another with six titles in seven years.
Not going to find a problem with that on the Winona State University gymnastics team.
Junior Alexandra Nugent believes that this year’s team can not only compete with some of the national powers, but beat them as well.
WSU proved that with a 179.124-175.350 victory over the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, the defending national champion.
“We have seen the level of the top teams so far,” said Nugent,
who qualified for nationals in each her freshman and sophomore seasons. “I truly believe that we have the team that can get to nationals.”
In three meets Nugent has won the all-around competition twice and took second in the other, losing by less than one point.
Funny thing is, Nugent hasn’t been completely satisfied — even when she has won.
“I thought I did all right on some of the events, even though I fell on the beam once,” Nugent said. “But I managed to pull through.”
Being one of the leaders, Nugent is thrilled with the team thus far.
“This year has been awesome so far. We have a freshman class that is hard-working, and the upper classmen are leading us,” she said.
An individual goal for Nugent consists of helping her team.
“I just want to go out there and set a good example for the team,” Nugent said.
In her first two years Nugent has qualified for nationals as an individual, but this year she wants the rest of the Warriors to join her.
“Qualifying for nationals is our main goal as a team, and I think it’s a real possibility,” Nugent said.
Trying to find Nugent before a meet is nearly impossible, since she gets in the zone by meditating before meets.
“Some people think it’s weird, so now I do it in my room before I leave,” Nugent said. “I also listen to ‘Sgt. Pepper’s
Lonely Hearts Club’ by The Beatles.”
Nugent has quite a handful with her academics along with gymnastics. She is a Spanish teaching major and plans on going to graduate school to learn Chinese.
“I just want people to understand all of the different cultures
in the world so we don’t have all of these conflicts,” Nugent
said.
One thing teams found out was WSU is among the nation’s best.
WSU defeated UW-Stout in its first meet of the season 178.625-172.70.
Nugent won the all-around competition with a score of 36.475, winning the vault and the floor.
Amanda Cotter, a freshman from Elm Grove, Wis., won the parallel bars with a score of 8.900.
The Warriors took down UW-Oshkosh the following week, defeating the defending national champion. WSU got victories from Melissa Baudhuin
in the vault, Eileen Strube on the beam, and Nugent on the floor and in the all-around.
In their third meet of the season, the Warriors took on national
powerhouse UW-La Crosse and put up a good fight, losing to the Eagles 184.375-182.00.
“A 182 is something we expect to see later on in the year,” said WSU coach Beckie Rolbiecki, who also coaches Winona Senior High School’s gymnastics team and has led the Winhawks to 49 consecutive dual meet victories. “We still made mistakes, so we are expecting those numbers to get better in the future.”
Baudhuin won the beam, while Nugent won the floor and the all-around for the second time this season.
Rolbiecki noticed the depth on this year’s squad compared to last.
“Last year we relied on Nugent,” Rolbiecki said. “This season we are getting so much from everyone, and it makes it fun.”
Even with a loss, the Warriors still have their heads held up high.
“Our confidence wasn’t shred one bit tonight,” Rolbiecki
said. “We came in here and put up a good performance against one of the best.”